heroesawakeningfandomcom-20200215-history
2011-08-28 - Explaining Elizraim
Man-at-Arms is confused, frankly. He didn't understand most of what was being mentioned - most of it only in passing, with no explanations or subtitles - during the team meeting regarding Elizraim. On top of this, when he showed up to take his 'shift' watching and protecting Elizraim, he was gently but firmly told that if he couldn't take his shift /out/ of costume, he couldn't take his shift at all. So the young hero has returned to the secret base of Young Justice in the tunnels beneath the city, and is trying to make himself useful, lifting and toting and such. He did make sure to report in via his communications unit, letting everyone know where he was in case help was needed. But that's it. With Elizraim currently being protected by another member of the Black family, Panacea makes her way into the base. She hears the sound of things being moved, turning that way. Of course, she does know who it most likely is, although she's still not reading Manny's mind. "Hey there. Anything a girl without super strength can help with, there?" The armored young man clanks about, turning around to face Panacea. "You could tell me where some of this should go, I suppose. Are you sure you should be here, instead of protecting Elizraim? Since I apparently cannot." He's not sounding /too/ embittered, more just confused on the issue. He /volunteered/ to protect him. And his shield is why. So why would anyone want him to show up /without/ his shield? "My brother can handle it for now. He'll zap anyone who tries anything." She's mentioned she has a brother in passing before. "Besides, Elizraim's composing. It won't want to go anywhere for hours. And...we just can't have people showing up at the hotel in costume and possibly leading the cops to some of the stuff we're doing there." "It? Isn't that rather rude?" Man-at-Arms questions. Given his own issues with identity, he is sensitive to such things. There are those that might choose to refer to him as an it. He would not appreciate it at all. "Showing up without my shield would make it rather difficult to use that shield to protect Elizraim. Or anyone else." Honestly, he's not even sure he /can/ show up without his armor. He never has. Though he could try. Yet what would be the point of that? Panacea would not, of course...even if she knew. "Not when you're talking about Elizraim. I'd use 'ey' but most people don't know what that means. English doesn't do well with gender-neutral pronouns...and could you put this board right here?" She indicates with her hands. "Of course I can." Man-at-Arms answers, and he does just as Panacea asks, happy to use his might for something useful. "Gender neutral? I don't understand. Then again, I didn't understand most of what you were talking about in the meeting. I mean, I know he has wings. But you were talking as if he isn't even human. And now you're saying he is gender neutral? And he was wearing a dress? None of this makes sense." "Elizraim isn't human, no." She studies Manny for a moment. "You've noticed the ears, surely, for one thing." Good point there...although it could mean the kid's a mutant. "It's species doesn't have sexes the way we do. Depending on how you think of it, it's either neither male nor female...or both. I lean more towards both, but it's really best to try and avoid gender constructs altogether. Which I know is headache-inducing." "Then ... what is Elizraim?" Man-at-Arms asks, a bit dazedly. Not human? Whoa. Either neither or both genders? This is ... very confusing. (Gee. Almost confusing as the girl who feels she is a boy trapped in a girl's body, able to magically transform into a knightly paragon. Who happens to figure out s/he's bisexual. Yeah. No confusion there at all.) The young knight just gapes at Panacea. "Its people call themselves the Mioemet." She pronounces it carefully. "They're a magical race." Which she's figuring Manny will understand as she's pretty sure he IS magical. At least, that seems the most likely explanation. "A magical race? Like elves or something?" Man-at-Arms asks. "With wings ... I guess they're like angels? All Superboy told me was that Elizraim was a sort of empath. I know you're a healer of some sort, though you did explain you're also a telepath and an empath. I know Arrowette is an archer. Vulcan seems to be a warrior with fire and teleportation powers. Superboy is super-strong, super-fast, and very damage resistant. I assume from what was mentioned that Oculus is some kind of magi. They said Raven is an empath, and a magi. Thunderstorm is very strong, she can fly, and she controls weather. And someone mentioned someone called Impulse, who is apparently very fast." Manny thinks about this for a few moments. "You said something about someone hunting him. Why would they hunt him, or his kind?" Panacea shakes her head. "Not like elves. Don't call it an elf...I don't get the feeling its people like elves very much. And not really angels. I don't pretend to understand most of it. And...well. Don't be fooled by Elizraim. From what it's told me, his people tend towards cultural arrogance and I don't get the impression most of them are very...nice." Which would explain Elizraim's bratty tendencies. Man-at-Arms feels like with every question he asks, he gets more and more confused. "I don't really understand." Then again, apparently neither does Panacea. The blind leading the blind, as it were. He doesn't know Elizraim well enough to be aware of any bratty tendencies ... or about anything he can do beyond showing off the wings. He is pretty well the raw newbie of the group. Panacea points to another place to put a board. "I know. It's confusing. But Elizraim is not at all like us...and isn't at all insulted by being called an it. It's accurate after all. But I doubt it would be too upset if you use he or she, either. If it makes you feel better, it admitted to me that it sometimes forgets which is which." Man-at-Arms puts the next board in place as directed, while he listens. "What is it Elizraim does, then?" he queries. Perhaps knowing that will help him put all of this madness into perspective? It surely couldn't hurt. It's difficult to imagine gender being such a non-issue that one would forget what they mean, when one's entire life seems dominated by the questions and concerns of gender. Panacea hrms. "Well, he's an empath, and also a competent fighter both hand to hand and melee. He flies. He also pulls energy from the emotions of those around him, but he does so without actually draining them...more like he's taking the surplus energy." Panacea adds, "And he can zap people with emotions too. Quite handy sometimes." "So he can draw power from emotions, and use them also as an 'attack' on others? So he could hit someone with 'calm' and get them to let down their guard. Or hit them with fear to make them run away." See? Man-at-Arms can figure it out. If someone just gives him enough clues. "I would never have expected him to be a close-quarters combatant." He's too scrawny, really. Panacea nods. "That sort of thing, yeah. He generally just sends this blast of disorientation and dizziness. Can knock people out that way. I use a similar trick myself when I need to." Man-at-Arms screws up his face a bit at that. For a telepath, that makes sense. But an empath? How is that an emotion? A state of mind, granted. But an emotion? "Either way, it's handy to have around...and I admit I've become very fond of it. It's good company. And if you haven't heard it play yet, you need to." She did say composing earlier, didn't she. Man-at-Arms merely shakes his head. "No. I have not heard Elizraim play music." There are a great many things about his teammates Man-at-Arms does not know. Then again, there are so many things about him they don't know. Fair is fair, one supposes. "I volunteered to help protect him with my shield. If I cannot go to this hotel, that will make it rather hard to protect him." "The problem is, we have kids there. Not kids like Elizraim, but ones that don't have enough training to fight yet. If the government found out some of the stuff going on, they'd shut us down. I can't risk having obvious supers be followed there." Man-at-Arms merely shrugs. "Perhaps that is so. But how am I to help, as asked, if I cannot go there?" He's not going to tell Panacea she's wrong to be concerned. That's stupid. He just finished running away from the cops once this week, and wouldn't have made it without help. But he simply doesn't know what to do, now. "Well, for one thing, once we find who did this, we might need some help..." Her lips quirk. "...taking them to school. If this isn't all some mistake by somebody utterly convinced Elizraim is evil, which is possible, we're likely to end up beating on somebody. And neither I nor Elizraim can do much directly against golems." Good point there. "But it does mean I will not be able to defend him, as I had promised." And Man-at-Arms really seems upset by that. Then again, if he is the embodiment of knighty virtue as a hero, he probably has a real thing about keeping his word. And now these rules about the hotel are preventing him from keeping his word. "Nevertheless, if that is what is needed of me, I shall endeavor to provide." "Well. I can still think of some things you can do. For one thing, Elizraim still wants to be able to patrol, but he doesn't want to go out on his own. You could partner with him...your horse flies, after all." "Very well." Man-at-Arms answers. "I confess, I do not 'patrol'. I tend to show up where I am needed, and then depart." All part of the great mystery that is Man-at-Arms. "But if he needs company, I can accompany him on a patrol route. I am sure Steed will not mind." Yes. He calls the horse Steed. At least it's not Steed-at-Arms, right? Panacea nods. "I don't patrol much either. I tend to get distracted by somebody getting hurt and then forget where I was if I try." She flickers a grin at Manny. "Steed?" "My horse." Man-at-Arms clarifies. "His name is Steed." Naturally the manly man of knightly heroness has a manly man's manly horse. Go figure. But no, not called Battlecat. How silly! "When I see people in trouble, I help them. That is what a hero does." Panacea nods. "Yeah. The only point to patrolling is it might sometimes make the bad guys keep their heads down. Or it might attract the cops. You never know." She lets out a breath. And since Man-at-Arms has enough problems with the cops, him not usually patrolling is probably a good thing. "Still, if it would help Elizraim feel better, I can go on patrol with him." "Right now, he just wants to make sure there's somebody around he can hide behind if somebody starts shooting poisonous arrows at him again." Which does make sense. "For which I am uniquely well suited." Even Superboy can only protect the side he's facing. But Man-at-Arms can hoist that shield and surround them both with a forcefield protecting in every direction. Well-suited indeed. Panacea nods. "You definitely are. About all I can do is take it for him. Which I'd do...it's not poisonous to me and I can self-heal. But...you're better." That makes Man-at-Arms smile. See? He's useful. Hooray. "Then when you go back, you can tell him that when he's ready to take a patrol, I will meet him wherever he wishes, and we can go together." Yes. He has defaulted to calling Elizraim a boy. Calling him an 'it' depersonalizes him in a way Man-at-Arms is not comortable doing. He is a person, human or not. Panacea nods. "I'll tell him that. Besides, that way you can get to know each other some. Which is always good. I need to corner Arrowette myself...I've barely spoken to her." The fact that Man-at-Arms doesn't 'hang out' with the team is probably one of the reasons why they are all still largely strangers to him. He never powers down, never acts as a civilian, never even talks about his life outside the armor. Hard to make friends with that sort of barrier. "I get the feeling Arrowette is very busy in her other life." "So do I," Panacea admits. "I honestly probably should spend more time in mine. I seem to do nothing but study and do YJ stuff now. On the other hand...you guys are good to hang out with." Truth is, Man-at-Arms hasn't spent much time on Young Justice things himself. It would seem he spends a lot of time in his other life, but he spends time enough active as Man-at-Arms to be quickly developing a reputation. "I don't spend much time 'hanging out', honestly." But he's here, now, spending time with her. Panacea moves to look at one of the boards. "I noticed. You aren't quite sure how much to trust us yet...and I *definitely* understand that. There's things about me not everyone on the team knows yet." "To be honest, I trust nearly no one with some of what I carry." Man-at-Arms admits. Though that does imply there is someone, somewhere, that he does trust. Given her experiences with him, Panacea might be able to guess who that would be. Maybe. It would at least be a reasonable answer. "It is not as much that I fear any would betray, as that I know most would not understand. It would change how others see me. And that would diminish all that I can do." Panacea hrms. "You mean the..." She glances around, even doing a quick telepathic scan to make sure nobody else is near. "...feelings you have for a certain person." Man-at-Arms shakes his head a bit. "No. Not exactly that, anyway. Or maybe not only that. Whichever." Empathically, his emotions are a roiling turmoil. There's some real shame and self-hate mixed up in there in large proportions. To him, at least, whatever this is happens to be huge. Life-defining stuff. "You understand that what I am is magical. What I am ... is an incarnation. The embodiment of heroism, from within. But if others doubt me, they can make me doubt myself. Make me change what I envision as heroic. And make me less of a hero." "Man-at-Arms, the ONLY thing that would make me doubt you would be if you screwed up...repeatedly, I mean, as opposed to making mistakes and learning from them." She sounds entirely serious. Man-at-Arms nods. "And so you believe. But I know differently. I can assure you, if you knew, it /would/ change the way you think about me." Panacea hrms. "I can't think of anything that would, though. But I admit I'm unusual. I'm very tolerant of things, as long as they don't harm others." "You will have to trust that I know what I'm talking about." Man-at-Arms offers. "I know you cannot imagine it. Which is wonderful, right up until you were to learn the truth. For now, what you know of me is all anyone needs to know of me. I am a hero. I will do anything I can to help others. That is enough." "You don't know me yet. But it's fine. I wouldn't push you." And she certainly hasn't mentioned teh gay to anyone in the group. And Man-at-Amrs appreciates that, obviously. "So long as you can accept me for what you know of me, that will be enough. The rest need never matter. Ever." "To be honest, I only worry about stuff that might affect you in a fight. Like things you might be vulnerable to." She considers that. Man-at-Arms has a pretty strong will. He's unlikely to be too vulnerable to most effects that might try to wriggle about inside and mess with those sorts of things. Though he's not immune, naturally. "And mental effects are unlikely to be one of them. You have good natural shielding...better protecting than most people. But we may have to watch for anything that disrupts magic around you." Nasty thought. Man-at-Arms nods. "Quite true. I imagine anything that actively disrupts magic, or dampens it, might affect me ill." For a moment, there is a thought image that flashes out, bright, clear and terrible: an older woman, perhaps in her mid-thirties, body broken and shattered, blood- and soot-splattered, laying on a rubble-strewn floor, eyes glassy and empty of life. There is pain in the memory. Pain and guilt, but also pride. Somebody he cared for, obviously. "Well, if we come up against anything like that, you can get behind Superboy. Or even me...magic disruption isn't going to affect me. But it would you and it would Elizraim." How shocking it might be to realize that as much as that woman means to Man-at-Arms ... he never knew her. He would have liked to, but had he, he would not have inherited the legacy he bears. "I will keep it in mind." He glances at a small clock, and sighs. "I need to go. Be sure to deliver my message to Elizraim. I will meet him wherever he wishes, if I can." That said, the young knight gives Panacea a bow, and marches out. Clankclankclankclank ... Category:Logs